Giving In
by dr100
Summary: The Tenth Doctor is now a troubled wreck, and the events on Earth after his visit to Mars have threatened his very existence, but there is something else, something he can't quite give in to...
1. Chapter 1: A tale of a Time Lord

**Doctor Who**

**Giving In**

**Starring David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor, and the reader as the Chosen One.**

**By Nathan Mullins**

* * *

He was tall and handsome, and amazingly fresh and old fashioned. I say 'old fashioned', but then as the Story Teller, I have named him, given him my everything. I am his only witness, on this occasion. He walks alone, those of whom he once travelled with now gone forever. His hands are tucked away in his stripy trouser pockets, the weather something he wishes not to put up with, so fights it but knows trouble is ahead.

He has, keeping him warm, his long brown coat wrapped around him, and the mood he is in is difficult to tell. The trouble is, he knows something, we at the time might only have guessed, incorrectly at that due to his frightening circumstances. Of all the monsters, villains, crooks, and scoundrels, there was only one 'thing' that petrified him the most, and as he walked on, head held high, but deep down carrying something desperately seeking attention, he craved forgiveness.

He knew there might well have been consequences, and of course the slave creature was one indication his song was ending, but then as the Story Teller, a fan of his adventures, I had to step in, and begin again, so to speak. My 'role' in the events that followed that terrible suicide, that inner strength in which bubbled inside of him, so much so that he chose to ignore the ancient space time rules of 'when not to interfere in the affairs of others'.

"But by feeding you, the Chosen One, a back-story, I… the Doctor, can only expect the Story Teller to cut in and delve further into a future plot. What do I know so far? Very little, so allons-y, onwards and upwards, yes?"

And then I paused, took in a deep breath, and then continued.


	2. Chapter 2: Strange Happenings

**Doctor Who**

**Giving In**

**Starring David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor, and the reader as the Chosen One.**

**By Nathan Mullins**

* * *

The RAF Reconnaissance plane was returning from a mission in France when the incident occurred.

As it flew over the English coastline, all going swell, the pilot didn't quite know what to make of the strange metallic object which matched his course, and of course, the thought of an imminent collision was on the cards.

As the pilot reported in, he witnessed the aircraft accelerate away before disappearing, and some how, without knowing quite what the observations received pictured in the detail described by one pilot alone, was discussed by one Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

**"This event should be immediately classified! We would loose respect, provoke mass panic, and above all destroy one's belief in the Church!"**

Churchill puffed on his cigar, and then looked up, across the table at the US General.

"So, we keep this under wraps, say nothing, and keep it that way until the _end of time_?"

**"Well for at least 50 years!" **and he grunted, getting up onto his feet, and shifting past his desk to where the gentlemen he was discussing matters with was seated.

He hunched over the General's shoulders, and whispered in his ear – "There will come a time when mankind will learn to adjust to the idea of there being UFO's forever present in our society. I will one day seek the assistance of an alien, who will come to Earth every so often to save us."

"Yes, hello, couldn't help but hear you name drop, my name, as if you failed to recall this unless you wished to keep me under wraps, but well, I believe we haven't met…"

General Dwight Eisenhower stood to greet the stranger who had seemingly entered unannounced, but said nothing. He was in outrage, however, and now, the matter in hand wasn't as classified as he'd preferred.

The Doctor leant in the door way, before rushing into Churchill's private quarters with his hand outstretched for those present to shake.

"I'm the Doctor, and I'm here to offer my _assistance_…"


	3. Chapter 3: Make Your Choice

**Doctor Who**

**Giving In**

**Starring David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor, and the reader as the Chosen One.**

**By Nathan Mullins**

* * *

I think of him as an adventurer, somebody to look up to because of what I know of him. He travels through time, and wanders in the fourth dimension, but then I would, being a fan and somebody to stare upon his massive life span, gazing at his companions, those I've smiled at, and those I've frowned upon.

But sometimes he is present, and watches you through a crack in the clouds outside, if it isn't raining and the sky is clear, but then he knows where you live, and the time of day to gaze down on you. He is ever present in your home, in the very corner of your eye, but the furthest to reach should you try.

He haunts your dreams, calls your home address dressed as a milkman, or a postman even, and you allow him access to your home, unable to tell the difference between someone who may appear human, but just isn't. You may have your family over, or picking your nose, or hatching a plan, but bare in mind he is watching, and he is waiting.

"What's he waiting for?" I ask, not quite sure if you're asking the Doctor, or him? Because right now, nothing is quite as it seems.

"I think he's waiting to see how you make your decision, and if it reflects hope, and/ or belief."

That was the Doctor, speaking on your behalf.

"But ask him this, and if you wish to pluck up the courage to do just this, then do it! Prove how brave you actually are.

"What has gone on in the past that has forced him into this dark, dark corner? Why is he so moody, and who is telling this grand story?"

You should never have asked such a devious question, because as he watches you from all angles spread over a wide range of hiding places, he waits to hear the answer he may well have been waiting for.

"And it's mine…" replies the Doctor, still strolling along the deserted beach, hands tucked deep into his trousers, wrestling with the thought he has possibly put you in danger.


	4. Chapter 4: Meeting the Beatles in space!

**Doctor Who**

**Giving In**

**Starring David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor, and the reader as the Chosen One.**

**By Nathan Mullins**

* * *

**"Put your hands together for John, Paul, George, and Ringo!"**

The audience were fired up, all the women falling over themselves to get a glimpse of the Beatles, as they ran out to perform their brilliant music.

Screams, and shouts, and cries for more were something of a shadow that clung to the band, but it was around the period they were leaving their gig, when a 'fella' pulled up in a yellow mini cab.

The man driving wound down his window, and yelled at the boys – "Get in, quickly!" in his broad, American accent.

John heard the screams growing louder, and then Paul saw his and the band's fans charging towards them.

The doors to the cab were unlocked, and they jumped in without a moments hesitation. The car drove off, and the fans were left disappointed, but something was wrong, still, as this was not 'their' get-away car.

"Excuse me Mr, but did Brian give you the details where and when to pick us up?" John asked, in his fantastic liverpoodlian accent.

Their driver spun around, and in his kisser was a cigar. He grinned, his teeth visible, yellow and black.

"No, not quite sonny, you see I'm…" and then the car suddenly shook, tipped, and then blasted off into the sun set.

"Wow Paul, are we day dreaming again?" asked Ringo, still recovering from the other night.

"I can't say, I'm in the middle of a nightmare, or it could be something to do with what I've just smoked?" Paul replied.

Suddenly, the Beatles were soaring through space, their taxi not all it seemed. Their driver twisted back around to face them again, and saw his passengers faces. He switched off the engine and his car drifted past stars, planets, and the like.

"I want to offer you folks a deal," he said, setting them straight.

"What is it?" asked George, always curious before accepting anything.

"I want you four to play planet Bollywood!"

There was silence all around.

Then, something untoward drifted past, with its doors wide open, and that read – Police.

"I'm the Doctor, and you Agent EMI have got to stop this at once!" shrieked a tall, lanky human who really was from another world, etc, etc…

"You have got to be kidding! This could be our biggest gig, go on, bugger off!" shouted John, angrily.

"Stop what? As John says, they may make it big up here!" replied the alien taxi driver, clearly aggravated by the Doctor's presence.

"But you do make it big lads, no worries. You have so much left to explore and do before you begin to accept deals from deadly aliens who want nothing else but to use your voices to save a forgotten planet from exploding!"

"Yeah, you know he has a point!" said Ringo, agreeing with the man he was starring at through the car's window.

"But you will make it big time, make _weird and wonderful movies!" _EMI continued.

"But this never actually occurred, and history will be re-written. Sure, there are things I could tell you that would make you smile, but only you can choose the right decision, and of course, I want to know as a fan, how you're gonna choose!" and that last sentence was spoken in a mock liverpoodlian accent, just to make the fab four feel at home in their taxi cab.

_"Rock, paper scissors… _eh Paul," grunted John.

"Sure why not, eh Ringo!" and all at once, they took decisive action. John hit the driver, Ringo jumped in the drivers seat, Paul was being given instructions by the Doctor on coordinates to programme into the taxi that just wasn't, and George sat back having a swig of a bottle he'd snuck on board.

Suddenly, just as soon as they'd reached outer space, they were on their way home. And the Police were close behind them, seeing them back down to Earth, safely.

Then, the taxi and the TARDIS drifted apart, and the taxi fell, and bounced as it hit the ground. The band were fine, but not for long. They had landed in the middle of all their fans, and those fans were delighted.

"You know lads," Paul piped up, winding up the windows as he alerted his pals to the growing number of people outside. "I hope Brian's on standby!"

The Doctor shut the doors to his ship, and stood hunched over the controls of his ship.

"Yesterday, just wasn't how it used to be," he mumbled, realising he'd jumped a time corridor.

"_Strange_," he continued. And he felt the back of his head with one hand, and swayed uneasily.

"You're picking up something ghastly, as I can tell from the scanner you're malfunctioning, but _happily!_ **WHAT?"**

Then something came up, and the TARDIS, little did the Doctor know, was in a temporal dream state, taking him with its circuitry.


	5. Chapter 5: Answer me

**Doctor Who**

**Giving In**

**Starring David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor, and the reader as the Chosen One.**

**By Nathan Mullins**

* * *

The Beatles, Churchill, the Napoleonic Wars, and still you wonder why on Earth these events are important? They are all yours, or so not entirely, but you're bound to be human, your who is at present reading this, and as you look down upon your lap top, or PC on a desk under the moonlight, perhaps even in a sunny garden, somewhere quiet, 'he' looks up at you, through your monitor.

You ignore his presence, as if he was never there, never in your company so long as he is not apparent, but soon all will become clear, and your mood, concerned yet concentrated, will leave you.

You stare or am I just doing as what I am writing? Could this be my diary, and as I think of what to write, what is being written is a future I, cataloguing events in comparison to those I'm living through at present.

I looked down at my hands, just to confirm that I was not going mad. You know how it is, when all you do all day and all night is work, work, work.. What I need is a good old cup of tea, just to prove I'm so human, I require something g to keep me wide awake, in case I might fall asleep at any instant.

But then you missed him, there, through your window. Look NOW! Did I see him? Perhaps, is the short answer, but then you miss 'him' starring up at you. His eyes bright red, his wig covering his bald, pink head.

Then, you turn back to what you were at first reading, and replacing the image of the angered, burning, aging being, is the very man you've read all about. The one, handsome, mad man, in the long brown coat wearing stripy gtrousers, hair completely ruffled.

"Hello!" he says, and you jump back in alarm.

"I've been hearing all about you, been catching up on the story as it stands, been hearing of the frightening decisions you've made concerning my life. You've been manipulating events, ever so slightly mind, but enough so that you may have either saved me or doomed me. Thing is… and I'll tell you in confidence."

He looms in on you, and as you do at these awkward times, look around to discover you're alone.

"Yes," I said, and bear in mind this was a while ago…

"You have two shadows!" he continued.

And that was when I threw the computer to my right side, turned my head to the left and discovered this was so.


	6. Chapter 6: What is it?

**Doctor Who**

**Giving In**

**Starring David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor, and the reader as the Chosen One.**

**By Nathan Mullins**

* * *

"_Two Shadows? Blimey_, how cool is that!" The Doctor blurted out, clearly excited to have found such a rare phenomenon.

"What does it mean Doctor?" I asked him. That was when I saw him turn away.

He replied – "It means something is UP, and what this then tells us, is that we're in for more twists and turns. Think and allow the wisdom of your wise old mind to do the talking. Keep reading!"

"But…" I stammered.

"No questions, just do as I say!" he told me, and he instantly faded from the monitor screen. But you see, as I read on, at first, it wasn't as apparent as when I read further and realised, this plot, this story involved I, and that the Doctor, wasn't merely on a single mission to save himself from this nightmare, if you could call it that, but my own, now uncertain fate.

It was the Wasteland of the Crimson Heart that I first stumbled upon the realisation that there was indeed many civilisations among the stars. I was in a glass bubble, or museum, and beyond the glass and the exhibits, I could make out the Earth some way beyond my present position. I could see the green and blue specks of the Sea and the Earth. I could see through the glass, out onto the plain beyond, and then… that was when I realised, I was no longer in the British Museum.

That was when I saw him, the Doctor, step out from his Police Box, and grinned in my direction. I smiled back at him, and quickly ran around to where he had parked, to meet him. I was out of breath, coughing and yawning. This 'space lark' took it out of you. I offered my hand, before I spoke, but he took it still, and then I yawned, as if out of ignorance. I hope he didn't take that as a hint I neither wanted to be there nor cared for his 'space ship'.

"I'm the 'laptop man, PC gal, or whoever you'd prefer…" I said, wishing he'd take the hint I was anybody but any human boring enough to sit at home all day and all night, watching the television.

"Howdy," the stranger shrieked, his mannerisms so alien, he shook my hand again, and I took a step back.

"Yes, you have two shadows, odd that is but, what I don't get is why you? Here? Now? You see, I only choose the best to hang out in and among this… box, behind me, and well… if you'd like to step inside?"

I gave him a look of utter disbelief. Was he serious? At one stage, I'd been at home, the next in a museum, and then some how in a glass hut where I would then meet the legend, the myth, the Doctor.

"It's bigger on the inside," I managed to squeal, out of utter amusement and pure shock. This was unbelievable!

"Yeah, plenty of room, just what a Master of time and Space requires to put one's feet up, treat myself to some fun and games once in a while, but at the best of times, I wheel out the food machine and snack endlessly on end, so to speak."

"What's weird is… why me?" you happen to ask, or did I mention I didn't want this fame, this excuse to travel the stars, if I was in such danger.

"Because," said the Doctor, in a tone that probably meant he wasn't amused either.

"He thinks he's clever, and that he can change your ultimate destiny, change what it is you think about, prevent your reality from ever happening as that will affect my ultimate downfall. This story, it takes place at an exceptional point in my particular life time. Sure, I know absolutely nothing of just what this single point structure is leading me to, but continue to choose for me, and I'll fall into the Void!"

"I'm sorry," I murmured.

"It's not your fault, as much as it's his. He's manipulating your thoughts, your speech, your theories and ideas, and time and place. As I've hinted throughout, he can sense all, he watches you, and knows what he wants from the story you are dreaming of, or perhaps he has crafted, but there's one thing I've left out," and he stopped, looked at me, and frowned.

I said nothing. I waited on him to break the news, and it was most likely very bad.

"I can't be sure if this is the dream, you see my ship fell through a dream spell, taking me down alongside it, and your twin shadow, is well spooky. You see, or, well you don't, but I met the Vashta Nerada. And more on that when I get the results back from your present position, this ship of mine, never mind how clever I know it is, has taken measurements of your shadow. Should be interesting, huh!"

"Will it hurt?" I asked. I hated having the needle on Earth. I had no clue as to the funky 'stuff' this contraption packed.

"Oh, uh, no, it's over. Here are the results!" and he fetched them from a tube and stared at them, without showing me first, not that I might possibly understand them anyway.

"Oh dear, I mean… **WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?**"

He turned and starred at me, horrified. I was electrified…


	7. Chapter 7: Done and dusted

**Doctor Who**

**Giving In**

**Starring David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor, and the reader as the Chosen One.**

**By Nathan Mullins**

* * *

I was like – "Yes, what _can _be _so _**BAD**?"

He stared at me, his eyes bulging out of their sockets, his 'gob' so difficult to read.

Then he said, and bare in mind when he did tell me, his once swollen face, filled with disgust, just slowly 'went down', almost like a balloon, you get the idea.

"Oh, ah, nothing, but I say nothing only to save time. You're going to be fine, so long as you trust me to save you!"

So I therefore had to ask – What do I need saving from?"

And that was when I suddenly twitched, as if something had just _come over me._ I was twitching every twenty seconds, clasping my chest, and then felt my heart pumping unlike ever before.

"Doctor, what's happening to me?" and then from the chair I'd been seated on, I fell to the TARDIS floor, the spasms I was having uncontrollable.

"It's the _Shadows; _they're feeding off your very existence, changing you. Look at your own shadow, it's slowly changing, morphing somewhat."

Then I saw him, through my agony, shouting above his own, at times, quiet voice. I could see him struggling under the pressure he had to save my life, and then I paused, watching him still, but he was starring at me?

**"STOP IT!" **he demanded.

"What?" I struggled to ask, through the torture I was being put through.

**"STOP IT NOW!" **he ordered.

Then I realised, I was causing his torture. I was causing him to do the same as I, through the words I was reading from, or otherwise had written some time earlier, possibly?

So I shut up.

... x

... x

|Silence|

... x

... x

From walking alone, carrying thoughts of torture and emotion, to Agent EMI capturing the Fab Four, to the Napoleonic Wars and the Battle of Hastings, to events too ghastly to speak of, all now history.

"He's clever," he told me. That was the Doctor, bold as anything he was, never afraid to speak out against forces dark and evil.

I was about to speak, when he ordered me to keep my lips sealed.

"You're the trap, you are! You gave in, but I never will. I will go on fighting, and as long as you have me," and then he nodded at me, saw that I was no longer under attack, and that was the Doctor having saved me.

I might have died… Gosh.

So he told me to stay put, and as long as I kept my mouth shut, I harmed neither myself or the Doctor. I watched as he too stood up, and I saw him shout out to the Story Teller.

"Face me, here and now! You want to play hide and seek, well guess what, I know who you are, and where you are, and whether you approve or if it's written down ahead of time and we, as in me and my buddy haven't got up to that bit yet, we're coming for you!"

And, by this time, the mood he was in, was petrifying. This was something new. Seeing the Doctor this annoyed freaked me out, because it wasn't in his nature. I saw him swing a hold of the TARDIS, begin calculating coordinates, and then I too had to hold on tight, if I didn't want to kill myself in flight aboard the Blue Box.


	8. Chapter 8: You know how it is, eh!

**Doctor Who**

**Giving In**

**Starring David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor, and the reader as the Chosen One.**

**By Nathan Mullins**

* * *

"WE arrived… oOo where, I wonder?"

I slowly pulled the TARDIS doors towards me, and when I walked out, into the corridor of the great space rocket, I gazed out through a window, at a planet drifting close by.

I turned to the Doctor, who swaggered out beside me. Hands were tucked away in his pockets, and creased trousers, and to follow, bright eyes.

"Rocket X-15, something beautiful, but something I've read in a future J Richards novel. Bit of a tale if ever I were to go off on such an adventure, but then to the Story Teller, his whole life revolves around the possibility of fiction replacing facts."

I stared at the Doctor, for just a moment or so, to judge his character. I just couldn't though, because of how he enjoyed everything about his tenth life, everything that, in my eyes, was so ordinary, or at its very best, unbelievable.

"Then I remembered, to remain quiet. My lips were pursed together, and then I did speak through teeth on 'lock down'.

"This way!" the Doctor said, taking my hand, but I tried telling him, by winking again and again, I wasn't going blind as well. So, he walked on ahead, thinking – "He's nuts!"

We walked a long distance, down this metal corridor, filled with tubing and wires, and plastic, and artron nuts, and bolts from the Venus Galleries, and the Martian Ice tubs, which to the Doctor were simply magnificent. Then, we came to a door, and this was when we were due to greet_ him_.

Probably not with smiles on our faces, but I was well up for meeting this madman, or at best, I presumed he was male.

Then, the door hissed aside, and there, in a chair, stroking a cat, like a typical bond villain, was the woman responsible for our troubles. She sat there, still as anything, and she did not move.

"Why, you must be the Story Teller?" the Doctor asked, in such a casual manner, he proved the lads in hoodies were less frightening than his charming approach, and trust him, he knew the hoodie lot well.

The Master was one, remember?

She did not reply, but the Doctor, look upon her face, creeping up at her, as she sat on her thrown, her cat hadn't blinked, or scurried off, and she was rigid.

"Dead," he told me.

"I reckon, y'know, we've been playing some cruel game. She's the Story Teller, ain't she?"

I nodded.

I crept a step closer toward the old woman, and her pet. The Doctor stood close by, monitoring events.

"Well, she's been dead a long while. Look at her face, her wrinkles, she's slowly melting away, her cheek and bone structure is losing its strength, and she looks tired. I reckon, she wished to continue, on and on and on. These people, well, they never stop doing what they love. They carry on until they die. I follow their example…"

I had to open my mouth, and ask the one simple question I had for him… Mr Know all

"How can she be behind these awful games then?"

I sounded concerned. You would too, if you were put through such misery, no doubt you have from reading this, but then that was all her fault, the Doctor told me, as this what she never dreamed of. "She never wished her stories to turn into awful situations, using the lives of all you earthlings, to further her expanding career. I reckon she thought she could carry on, not only because of what she loved doing, but because her career, at the time she died, was going so well."

"So she had no idea it would end this way, an unsuccessful amusement arcade of unnecessary squabbles, and the involvement of I?"

"Correct," added the Doctor. "See these eyes of hers, they're wide open. Take a look!"

I did so, and noticed something small and round inside them. It was a clock, inside an eye, well two really, and they were ticking, how odd.

"They're what are left of her alien mind, and we must switch them off. There's only one way of doing just that. Shut them, would you earthling."

So, I reached out to close them, and suddenly, after having done so, I collapsed.

Why?

The Doctor explained.

"You were her witness, you were her play thing. You shut down her working brain, and that, my friend, was the reason you too felt so sleepy I brought you home."

_The Doctor refused to explain why the Story Teller, on her thrown on her rocket in space, chose me out of all those around the whole, entire world. But then it could well have been worse. Stockbridge was always in the thick of it, but then it was never just Stockbridge ever involved in the Doctor's adventures. It was you too! And if you're reading this, then the mind still ticks, and if this is so, she may be your witness._

**She will return, and be sure, she does not return for you!**


End file.
